U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,603 (Papadopoulos), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, allegedly cites a “control system allows a user to access a programmable logic controller (PLC) system over a communication network such as an Internet network using a web browser. The system includes an Internet web interface between the network and the programmable logic controller. The Web interface serves Web pages from an Ethernet interface on a PLC and includes an HTTP protocol interpreter and a TCP/IP stack. The Web interface provides access to the PLC by a user at a remote location through the Internet. The interface translates the industry standard Ethernet, TCP/IP and HTTP protocols used on the Internet into data recognizable to the PLC. Using this interface, the user can retrieve all pertinent data regarding the operation of the programmable logic controller system.” See Abstract.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,442 (Crater), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, allegedly cites an “integrated control system comprises one or more controllers each equipped to perform a control function and to gather data (ordinarily from sensors) relevant to the control function. Each controller contains computer storage means, such as computer memory, for storing the relevant data and instructions, associated with the data, for causing a remote computer to generate a visual display incorporating the data in a predetermined format; and a communication module for establishing contact and facilitating data interchange with the remote computer. The remote computer, in turn, also includes a communication module compatible with the controller-borne module, and which enables the remote computer to download the data and associated instructions from one or more controllers. The remote computer also includes a facility for processing the instructions to create a user interface encoded by the instructions, and which incorporates the data. In this way, controller data is coupled to instructions for displaying that data, and this totality of information is continuously accessible, on a freely selective basis, to the remote computer.” See Abstract.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,611 (Freund), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, allegedly cites a “computing environment with methods for monitoring access to an open network, such as a WAN or the Internet, is described. The system includes one or more clients, each operating applications or processes (e.g., Netscape Navigator™ or Microsoft Internet Explorer™ browser software) requiring Internet (or other open network) access (e.g., an Internet connection to one or more Web servers). Client-based monitoring and filtering of access is provided in conjunction with a centralized enforcement supervisor. The supervisor maintains access rules for the client-based filtering and verifies the existence and proper operation of the client-based filter application. Access rules which can be defined can specify criteria such as total time a user can be connected to the Internet (e.g., per day, week, month, or the like), time a user can interactively use the Internet (e.g., per day, week, month, or the like), a list of applications or application versions that a user can or cannot use in order to access the Internet, a list of URLs (or WAN addresses) that a user application can (or cannot) access, a list of protocols or protocol components (such as Java Script™) that a user application can or cannot use, and rules to determine what events should be logged (including how long are logs to be kept). By intercepting process loading and unloading and keeping a list of currently-active processes, each client process can be checked for various characteristics, including checking executable names, version numbers, executable file checksums, version header details, configuration settings, and the like. With this information, the system can determine if a particular process in question should have access to the Internet and what kind of access (i.e., protocols, Internet addresses, time limitations, and the like) is permissible for the given specific user.” See Abstract.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 20020070965 (Austin), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, allegedly cites a “system and method for enabling a program to subscribe to data and/or publish data, e.g., in order to receive and display data from a data source in a graphical user interface (GUI) element or in order to write data associated with a GUI element to a data target. In one embodiment, a developer of a program may specify a data source and/or data target during development of the program, e.g., via a URL. If a data source is specified, the method may operate to automatically determine a GUI element operable to display (or otherwise indicate) data received from the data source and may automatically include the GUI element in the program's graphical user interface (GUI) and automatically configure the GUI element to receive and display data from the specified data source during execution of the program. In the preferred embodiment, the developer is not required to specify any source code for the program in performing this configuration. Many programs require data to be exchanged with various types of data sources and targets, but this data exchange is often a difficult task for developers. Thus, various embodiments of the invention may greatly benefit users by enabling complicated exchange of data to be performed by simply specifying a data source and/or target to associate with a GUI element. Another embodiment of the invention enables the implementation of a data viewer program which, when executed, enables an end user to specify a data source, e.g., via a URL, and view data received from the data source, wherein the end user may specify any of various types of data sources, any of various types of data may be received from the data sources, and any of various types of GUI elements may be dynamically displayed to allow the end user to view the received data.” See Abstract.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 20020174178 (Stawikowski), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, allegedly cites a “[c]ommunication system on an IP network (50) between automation equipment (10) capable of executing at least one program (20) to provide automation functions and one or more remote items of equipment (30, 40) executing one or several computer applications. The communication system is conform with the WSDL (Web Services Description Language) language and provides monitoring, display, control, configuration or programming functions of the automation equipment (10) to remote equipment. The communication system uses at least one service description document (61) conform with the WSDL language accessible through a URL address and that describes capabilities of one or several WEB services (21, 21′) capable of interacting with a program (20) on the automation equipment (10).” See Abstract.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 20020046239 (Stawikowski), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, allegedly cites the “present invention describes a communication system on an IP network (50) between an automation equipment (10) and one or more remote devices (30). The communication system is based on the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) for the purpose of providing the remote device (30) with automation equipment (10) supervision, display, control, configuration or programming functions. The automation equipment (10) comprises at least one WEB service (21) and/or one WEB client (22) able to interact with a program (20) of the automation equipment (10), capable of decoding messages received (51, 54) from the IP network (50) encoded according to the SOAP protocol and capable of encoding messages to be sent (52, 53) according to the SOAP protocol. A service description document (61), accessible to a remote device (30, 30″) describes the capacities of one or more WEB services (21) implanted in an automation equipment (10). This document may be stored or constructed dynamically by a generator (62).” See Abstract.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 20020120723 (Forth), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, allegedly cites a “system for modifying the functionality of intelligent electronic devices installed and operating in the field is disclosed. Each of the intelligent electronic devices operates with a software configuration to monitor electrical energy. A copy of the software configurations may be maintained in a database. Changes to the operation of one or more of the intelligent electronic devices may be made as a function of modifications to the database.” See Abstract.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 20020152289 (Dube), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, allegedly cites a “system and method for configuring a resource in a network is disclosed. The system is accessible by a web tool and includes a configuration database being capable of storing a plurality of parameters for configuring the resource. A configuration page also accessible via the web tool, includes a form to facilitate configuration of the resource. The form is capable of receiving a resource parameter entry and a configuration option selection. The configuration option selection and the resource parameter entry compose a magic-URL. A configuration agent is responsive to the magic-URL wherein the agent and the magic-URL cooperate to manage the configuration database.” See Abstract.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,640,140 (Lindner), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, allegedly cites a “programmable logic controller for use as part of an industrial control system or as part of an automated system and a corresponding method, the controller including an interface to the Internet, and including a web server allowing a remote computer to access web pages maintained by the controller providing information relevant to the control function of the controller such as control sensor readings and, optionally, information about the status of the control system. The web server is implemented as part of the controller in such a way that the controller scan rate (the rate at which the ladder logic for all associated control system devices is repeated) is unaffected by execution of the web server.” See Abstract.